Heh. All this time, it never even dawned on me that we had Amendola that year lol. Now we are trying to give every guy that resembles him a million chances to find the next one lol. Amendola would be lovely here in the slot, and really always would have been. But, I wouldn't have wanted to be the team to pay him that. He's gotten much more explosive over the years but isn't durable enough to last.

On that same note, Victor Butler is getting a ton of attention out there and should be signing with Pittsburgh or follow Ryan to NO. I always liked Butler, and yes it will piss me off if he goes to Pittsburgh and balls, we never really unleashed him here because he was a back-up. I know people knocked him for his help in the run support, but I don't think we had a big enough sample size to gauge that yet. I do know that he was always an explosive pass rusher and knows how to get after the QB.

I think he would have been able to make a transition to SLB but I guess when the money is tight and options with Albright/Wilbur it doesn't make much sense.

I also vehemently disagreed with the firing of Rob Ryan. I even laughed at the signing of Kiffin.

But the good group of Cowboys fans we have here made me come away from the ledge a bit. I have my doubts, but I'm willing to ride this out. I mean I REALLY REAAAALLLLY have major doubts about this. But I'm just gonna sit quiet a bit and have a little faith.

You're a USC fan right?

I am, I watch every game, I was happy when they announced Monte would not be returning to coach the defense.

Then the football gods decided to take a **** on me and made him DC for the Boys.

I'm still on the ledge and will continue to be until proven otherwise.

Despite reports of Kiffin planning to use the secondary more like Seattle to maximize Carr/Claiborne & show different looks with the safeties, I doubt that as well. I hope he does, but again, show me.

I find it hard to believe a Leopard is going to change his spots when he's in cognitive decline and failed to make any adjustments during his time at USC.

We shouldn't have fired Rob and if we were going to we should have replaced him with a young, fresh mind. Not a retread.

This team was a impact safety away from having a legit defense. You could make the case for a NT as well after Brent's incident but it was pretty close to working.

I am, I watch every game, I was happy when they announced Monte would not be returning to coach the defense.

Then the football gods decided to take a **** on me and made him DC for the Boys.

I'm still on the ledge and will continue to be until proven otherwise.

Despite reports of Kiffin planning to use the secondary more like Seattle to maximize Carr/Claiborne & show different looks with the safeties, I doubt that as well. I hope he does, but again, show me.

I find it hard to believe a Leopard is going to change his spots when he's in cognitive decline and failed to make any adjustments during his time at USC.

We shouldn't have fired Rob and if we were going to we should have replaced him with a young, fresh mind. Not a retread.

This team was a impact safety away from having a legit defense. You could make the case for a NT as well after Brent's incident but it was pretty close to working.

More importantly, Ware & Spencer were in their proper positions.

Yup and I know exactly how you felt cause I felt it too.

I argued that Kiffin's system is outdated by the new rules of the NFL. Defenses just aren't allowed to hit like they used to be. Kiffin is about blowing guys up. ...and against the spread he completely stunk up the joint. With RG3 and now Chip Kelly.. OMG... I really am scared.

But I've been told he has a good resume. Been told he's gonna do something similar to Seattle. Been told the Bears are proof this can still work.

I'm like ok... I'll be quiet... but you better "show me" when the time comes.

I loved Rob Ryan and I think he was a master adjustment maker who put players in place to play to their strengths and hide their weaknesses. That's all I really want out of a coach. It's up to the GM to put the roster together. If it's not good enough, then I put that blame on them. ... and no, our defense wasn't good enough after the injuries piled up. We didn't have the depth to pick up the slack and that's not on Rob. Everyone knew he was doing a good job week to week to keep our team in position to win games. Then all of a sudden he becomes the scapegoat cause Garrett was in a more solid position to keep his job in the eyes of the owner/gm.

I argued that Kiffin's system is outdated by the new rules of the NFL. Defenses just aren't allowed to hit like they used to be. Kiffin is about blowing guys up. ...and against the spread he completely stunk up the joint. With RG3 and now Chip Kelly.. OMG... I really am scared.

But I've been told he has a good resume. Been told he's gonna do something similar to Seattle. Been told the Bears are proof this can still work.

I'm like ok... I'll be quiet... but you better "show me" when the time comes.

I loved Rob Ryan and I think he was a master adjustment maker who put players in place to play to their strengths and hide their weaknesses. That's all I really want out of a coach. It's up to the GM to put the roster together. If it's not good enough, then I put that blame on them. ... and no, our defense wasn't good enough after the injuries piled up. We didn't have the depth to pick up the slack and that's not on Rob. Everyone knew he was doing a good job week to week to keep our team in position to win games. Then all of a sudden he becomes the scapegoat cause Garrett was in a more solid position to keep his job in the eyes of the owner/gm.

I liked the passion he brought to a team devoid of passionate people.

Garrett, never angry, never yells, just tucks his mic and spits as if its a nervouse tick.

I can stand how emotionless Garrett is. I can't think of any other coach in the league outside of Romeo Crennel who can have so little passion.

And 70 year old lane won't even be on the sideline. He'll be up in the booth on a head set.

After speaking at his tour of the renovations at the new Youth Education Town in Arlington, Smith turned his attention to the Cowboys quarterback. He said Romo doesn’t owe any hometown discount unless he’s assured the line in front of him is patched up.

“I think Tony has to look at it from the perspective of, ‘What is that money going to go toward? Is it going to go toward me having a mediocre front line in front of me and getting knocked on my back all the time, or is it going to go toward getting an upgrade so we can become a better team?” Smith said. “Those are things that he has to look at, and I understand that, because the kid’s been running for his dear life for the last three years.”

“He can’t drop back like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady and sit back there and have a sandwich and some chips and a drink before he throws the football,” Smith said. “He’s dropping back to scramble, because he knows that offensive line is not going to hold up that long, so the question becomes, truly, is the money going toward an upgrade? If the money’s going toward an upgrade, I’m sure he’ll be willing to work with Mr. (Jerry) Jones.”

Pretty much hit the nail on the head. I expect our offensive line to leak at least 1 rusher prior to Tony completing a 3 step drop and that is flat out sad. Give me a passable offensive line and I think Tony and Murray take it to a new level this season. Ignore it and we'll be mired in mediocrity again.

I hope like hell that this is ******** because many times Free played so bad that it was like having 4 linemen. I remember in the Cleveland game where it looked like he just got blown by without any disregard for his skill. I forgot who it was, but he just ran by Free and didn't even attempt to make any moves to throw him off balance. I feel so bad for Romo's health if this story is true.

__________________
"If you have one finger pointing at somebody, you have three pointing towards yourself."
~Nigerian Proverb

Free being on the team isn't an indictment of Parnell really. Whom do we have to backup Parnell if we cut Free? Keep in mind Free doesn't save us money until June 1st.

Dallas will take the opportunity to see if a OT falls to them in the draft and make the decision on Free come June. If Dallas for example lands Terron Armstead then without question Free will be cut June 1st. However if we miss on all of the tackle prospects and land only a late-rounder we may give Free a chance in training camp.

Since the salary cap relief won't come until June 1st (along with the Marcus Spears relief) it makes sense to hold onto Free until another option arises.

As FA is continuing to play out, is anybody else realizing how bad we dropped the ball? Just from a bunch of different angles:

1) Cap situation basically screwed us over from making a signing. Romo has a cap hit way too big, Doug Free is taking up like 10 million, and Spencer is taking up another 10. There are more culprits, but if I'm not mistaken those 3 take up roughly 36 million right? Come on...

2) Look at the contracts DE's are getting. 4-3 DE's. Michael Bennett for 1 year 5 million? Cliff Avril 2 years 15 million? We could have taken either of those guys, let Spencer walk, and saved a ton of room and probably gotten at least an additional year out of those guys for a cheap contract

3) Look at what the Safeties are getting. Louis Delmas 2 years for 9.50? Really? Who our are safeties again? Look at what Kenny Phillips got, and there are still guys out there that are solid like Huff who are at least upgrades

That's not even getting into the RT's available and the price tag for them. This off-season hasn't been a good one what so ever. We have useless contracts sucking up so much money, we are missing out on bargains, we ALWAYS over-value our players that are in house and up for contracts, etc.

Just frustrating. I honestly don't think Jerry had any idea what the market value of some of these players would be, or maybe he never does, I don't know. I just know with the way things are going it's not going to get any better.

At the very least, if we could have had an out with Free contract to free up that money now, let Spencer walk, and re-signed/restructured Romo we would have at least 25 million to spend and we could have probably gotten Delmas, Winston, and Bennett with money to spare. Ugh.

__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Wright

I guarantee that if someone picks Cam Newton in the Top 5 they will regret it.

Free being on the team isn't an indictment of Parnell really. Whom do we have to backup Parnell if we cut Free? Keep in mind Free doesn't save us money until June 1st.

Dallas will take the opportunity to see if a OT falls to them in the draft and make the decision on Free come June. If Dallas for example lands Terron Armstead then without question Free will be cut June 1st. However if we miss on all of the tackle prospects and land only a late-rounder we may give Free a chance in training camp.

Since the salary cap relief won't come until June 1st (along with the Marcus Spears relief) it makes sense to hold onto Free until another option arises.

I can't agree with this. Reason being is that Free is like having no back-up, except he cost money. I always hear the "well he has experience and he has played both sides" excuse with him, but what difference does any of that matter if he can't even get out of his stance before Romo is sacked?

We could draft any RT available in the draft from the 1st-5th round, and there is a zero chance he is worse then Doug Free. Zero. I DVR'd quite a few games, watched them a few times again, if you pick any game this year to re-watch, and focus on Doug Free every snap, it's literally embarassing. I spoke a few weeks ago how I saw footage on some site I'll have to look for again, that showed numerous Romo TD's where Free got blown by again in .2 seconds but he was a magician in the pocket and got the ball off for a TD.

He's horrendous. Parnell is the ideal great depth. He had to come in at LT and RT last year and was there any drop off? We didn't even really know right away he was playing LT for Tyron that game honestly. There is no point in having a guy as depth if he's trash when he comes in the game. If that was the case we could just go get Jason Smith to be our RT for good depth. He was picked high and has experience in the position just like Free does, he sucks like Free does too and is way cheaper.

__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Wright

I guarantee that if someone picks Cam Newton in the Top 5 they will regret it.

Keep in mind cutting Free now does ZERO for the cap. So him being here is not causing us not to sign someone. The only way to save cap space with him is to cut him Post-June 1st. Even if you designate someone a Post-June 1st cut you don't realize the savings until that point.

Free is in all likelihood out the door already but the final nail will be driven if we draft someone. Releasing him now accomplishes nothing other than to make us feel comfortable as fans. The team has to accommodate all contingencies including perhaps not drafting a single OT in the draft.

Being frustrated with Romo and Spencer's contract is what it is. The team is attempting to extend him but haven't heard much on that front. Spencer on the other hand I hope we use him as a stop-gap.

I think Crawford is being groomed and we'll take another DE and as long as things go well Spencer will let go after this season. Could be completely wrong here and we extend him but unless he takes a sweetheart deal much lower than his initial demands I can't buy it.

I'm not saying we should cut him now, I was speaking more to the report stating that he may stick around another year, or utilizing him as a swing tackle. That said, we drew up the contract, typically the good contracts have easy outs before free agency. I honestly don't care as long as he is a June 1 cut, it doesn't make any sense to do it now, but it also makes no sense to bring him back next year. As a guard, swing, depth, anything.

__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Wright

I guarantee that if someone picks Cam Newton in the Top 5 they will regret it.

As FA is continuing to play out, is anybody else realizing how bad we dropped the ball? Just from a bunch of different angles:

1) Cap situation basically screwed us over from making a signing. Romo has a cap hit way too big, Doug Free is taking up like 10 million, and Spencer is taking up another 10. There are more culprits, but if I'm not mistaken those 3 take up roughly 36 million right? Come on...

2) Look at the contracts DE's are getting. 4-3 DE's. Michael Bennett for 1 year 5 million? Cliff Avril 2 years 15 million? We could have taken either of those guys, let Spencer walk, and saved a ton of room and probably gotten at least an additional year out of those guys for a cheap contract

3) Look at what the Safeties are getting. Louis Delmas 2 years for 9.50? Really? Who our are safeties again? Look at what Kenny Phillips got, and there are still guys out there that are solid like Huff who are at least upgrades

That's not even getting into the RT's available and the price tag for them. This off-season hasn't been a good one what so ever. We have useless contracts sucking up so much money, we are missing out on bargains, we ALWAYS over-value our players that are in house and up for contracts, etc.

Just frustrating. I honestly don't think Jerry had any idea what the market value of some of these players would be, or maybe he never does, I don't know. I just know with the way things are going it's not going to get any better.

At the very least, if we could have had an out with Free contract to free up that money now, let Spencer walk, and re-signed/restructured Romo we would have at least 25 million to spend and we could have probably gotten Delmas, Winston, and Bennett with money to spare. Ugh.

Glenn Dorsey, 2 year 6 mil. He's the type of guy who could revive his career in a new scheme suited to his strengths.

Now now... nobody was crying last year... and it wasn't too long ago Stephen Jones was reigning with praise for being a master capologist. Remember when we took the credit away from Jerry and started lofting Stephen into that chair?

It's still Stephen's show. I actually like the Franchising of Spencer because I'm still not totally convinced that he's worth a long term contract. I'm down with paying him another year and looking at DE in the draft next year.

I think we got better by subtraction with Sensy gone and Spears gone. I fully expect Free to be a June 1st cut. Fans just need to be patient. We aren't gonna be spenders every offseason. We got Carr last year, so that should settle your nerves.

Yes, I thought Romo would restructure, but I'm ok with him not doing it. I don't want to be in depth with him long term. ...but then again, you all know I'm not Tony's biggest supporter.

Austin must be playing hard ball to in not redoing his deal. Remember my mock? We went WR in Round 2... forced Austin to reconsider at the last moment or get cut. I still think that's a possibility. Right now, he has leverage. If we make him replaceable, he'll lose it and the only way that happens is through the draft cause we have no means via FA. I don't think we cut him before the draft cause Jerry likes him too much. He just wants to pay less, but can't force that move just yet.

My question is, what's up with Ratliff? Is he gonna rework his deal or what?

Austin must be playing hard ball to in not redoing his deal. Remember my mock? We went WR in Round 2... forced Austin to reconsider at the last moment or get cut. I still think that's a possibility. Right now, he has leverage. If we make him replaceable, he'll lose it and the only way that happens is through the draft cause we have no means via FA. I don't think we cut him before the draft cause Jerry likes him too much. He just wants to pay less, but can't force that move just yet.

My question is, what's up with Ratliff? Is he gonna rework his deal or what?

Austin and Ratliff both restructured. So they didn't rework deals just took their base salary this year and pushed it into bonus money later.

Austin and Ratliff both restructured. So they didn't rework deals just took their base salary this year and pushed it into bonus money later.

Know what the new numbers are?

I think it was a bad decision to turn unguaranteed money into guaranteed money just to save cap now and NOT rework their deals to pay them less. WTF is going on in Dallas? Not having a lot of guaranteed money on their contracts made them easy to trade. Now they will be harder to trade and harder to cut.

Looking at the details from other sources both look right on spotrac. Miles is a clean cut (saves money) in 2015. Exact same scenario with Rat.

So it looks like Dallas is cutting the table to clear their cap hits in 2015 while guaranteeing they will be on the roster for 2013 and 2014.

Austin's cap hits of 3,588,400 (2013) and 8,248,400 (2014) are hardly insane provided he plays up to #2 production.

Ratliff's cap hits of 4,072,000 (2013) and 8,232,000 (2014) are fine as long as he doesn't lose his starting gig.

Honestly I think the front office did a nice job given the poor contracts those two were given at the time. Dallas has a reasonably clean slate in terms of bad contracts after the 2014 season.

When you put the car in the ditch as Jerry did with some bad contracts you can't complain at the tow truck driver (Stephen) for charging ya to get you back on the road.

Only major move I questioned this offseason was franchising Spencer. The only way that move makes sense is if you fully believe he fits the scheme and you can extend him for under 9 million per. Other than that trading him would be the only saving grace. The defensive end market was incredibly good for finding good deals and we missed out on finding cogs that could fit but I think Spencer may excel in the scheme so I'll give the team the benefit of the doubt.

I'm fine with the Spencer tag. I didn't see any DEs that I wanted here beyond 5 years. Should be fun to track the DE college prospects next year. ...outside of Clowney who we'll have no shot at.

I honestly like some of the bigger DEs in this draft. Carradine will be a steal if he goes mid-2nd as most sites peg him. Malliciah Goodman needs work but has all the physical attributes and the fiery attitude I love in the trenches. I'd also take a hard look at Devin Taylor, Stansly Maponga, and David Bass in the middle rounds. Depth at SDE is pretty insane this year.

One of the biggest unknowns is Tyrone Crawford. If the tag of Spencer was meant to be the bridge to Crawford I would be 100% okay with that as well.

Dane Brugler of CBS Sports praises Crawford for his "strong practice habits" and sees his strengths like this:

Coordinated with smooth movement skills. High effort rusher and works through the whistle. Relentless worker, fighting off blocks and battling to the ball carrier. Has strong hands and holds his own at the point of attack. Stout anchor when he plays low to the ground.

Tyrone Crawford is certainly an intriguing prospect with limited football playing experience. He has only started one year of football for Boise State and only played one year of football in high school. Crawford looks to be scheme versatile, can play end, outside linebacker, standing or with one hand on the ground. He's explosive, quick and powerful.
NFL coaches will have to be real patient with him. Crawford has such limited playing experience that it is almost a given he doesn't play at all as a rookie. He needs to find his style of play essentially. He's not a speed rusher who can hit the edge and bend. Crawford will be the long-armed power guy who can explode into the chest of an offensive lineman in order to collapse the pocket.

BtB Crawford feature:

Rabblerousr: Crawford played the strongside end at Boise State, in a similar 4-3 system. At BSU, Crawford was expected to set the edge and to provide pass rush, both of which he did very well (many scouts feel that he rushed the passer better than his Boise D-linemate, Chicago's 2011 first-rounder, Shea McClellin).

Although he's certainly not the kind of quick-twitch athlete that DeMarcus Ware is, Crawford is quicker than a lot of people give him credit for, and he's a relentless effort player who might pad his sack totals with a fair share of "clean-up" sacks.

OCC: Tyrone Crawford 'possesses prototypical NFL athletic ability and speed on the perfect frame', the NFL Draft Advisory Board wrote last year. Crawford had a production ratio of 1.62, the highest number of any defensive lineman in last year's draft class. On paper, Tyrone Crawford has everything he needs to become a penetrating lineman: a track record of production, prototypical athleticism and an abundance of performance metrics needed to be successful at the position.

Crawford got more and more playing time as the season progressed last year, and he looked increasingly comfortable. We don't know what the Cowboys D-line will look like yet, so I'm not sure Crawford will line up at DE. And with recent reports that he bulked up to close to 300 pounds I suspect he'll line up as the three technique in the D-line rotation.

KD: I think you'll see Kiffin and Marinelli gauge Tyrone Crawford's future on behalf of the team this year. Should Anthony Spencer stay on a one-year deal, the team may not look to bring in a draft pick or a free agent.

As FA is continuing to play out, is anybody else realizing how bad we dropped the ball? Just from a bunch of different angles:

1) Cap situation basically screwed us over from making a signing. Romo has a cap hit way too big, Doug Free is taking up like 10 million, and Spencer is taking up another 10. There are more culprits, but if I'm not mistaken those 3 take up roughly 36 million right? Come on...

2) Look at the contracts DE's are getting. 4-3 DE's. Michael Bennett for 1 year 5 million? Cliff Avril 2 years 15 million? We could have taken either of those guys, let Spencer walk, and saved a ton of room and probably gotten at least an additional year out of those guys for a cheap contract

3) Look at what the Safeties are getting. Louis Delmas 2 years for 9.50? Really? Who our are safeties again? Look at what Kenny Phillips got, and there are still guys out there that are solid like Huff who are at least upgrades

That's not even getting into the RT's available and the price tag for them. This off-season hasn't been a good one what so ever. We have useless contracts sucking up so much money, we are missing out on bargains, we ALWAYS over-value our players that are in house and up for contracts, etc.

Just frustrating. I honestly don't think Jerry had any idea what the market value of some of these players would be, or maybe he never does, I don't know. I just know with the way things are going it's not going to get any better.

At the very least, if we could have had an out with Free contract to free up that money now, let Spencer walk, and re-signed/restructured Romo we would have at least 25 million to spend and we could have probably gotten Delmas, Winston, and Bennett with money to spare. Ugh.

yep even look at sean smith and contract he took, stephen and jerry are looking awful foolish